Everything Michigan football offense was under fire for the past several weeks, and it reached a boiling point at halftime against Penn State, with Jason Beck's unit having only produced 80 yards, 0 points, and two turnovers through 30 minutes. Thus, something had to give.
And that something ended up being someone -- quarterback Bryce Underwood.
The former No. 1 overall recruit was benched at halftime in favor of true freshman signal-caller Tommy Carr, the legacy and fan favorite. As Carr led the offense out onto the field to open up the third quarter, the crowd erupted. It did even more so when he scampered for a near touchdown off a Penn State turnover, and it continued to be raucous as the game went on.
Though Underwood celebrated with his teammates
and didn't appear to be sulking, it was a difficult decision for Beck to make the change. He shared with Jon Jansen on the Inside Michigan Football radio program what it was like to make the call and inform Underwood and Carr that their roles were switching up.
"You're just in that situation of what's best for the team right now. What do we need to do?" Beck said. "It's really hard news for one guy. It's an opportunity for another guy that knows he's always a snap away from being ready to play. And so now, you're kind of calling his number, and it's his time to go.
"So, can definitely be a difficult conversation, but just going into it, just felt it was the right time and the move needed to be made. And it did provide a spark that second half for whatever reason, and the offense was able to kind of get clicking and playing a little better."
Beck wasn't sure what he was going to get out of his first-year QB until he got it. While he had done well in practice, it's a different deal to go up against a Big Ten school and execute the offense. And Carr did just that.
Given that Carr was getting just his second real taste of college football, and this time with much higher stakes (his first appearance was in garbage time against UTEP), Beck was pleased to see how Carr handled the opportunity.
"I was really impressed with just how composed he was when he got in there," Beck said. "That's the big question mark you do not know. When somebody's stepping into real meaningful minutes for the very first time in a Big Ten game, what's that gonna look like? And man, he just looked like practice. There was a couple things he missed and this and that, but for the most part, he looked just like he did at practice, which is really impressive.
"I've been in games where it's a guy's first time playing, first time starting, and they go through that first series, and they come off, and you go, 'Hey, what did you see on this play?' And they're like, 'I have no idea.' They just don't even know what happened because he's just so fast and such a blur, and their mind's racing. But no, Tommy was able to kind of communicate this and that, and, 'Oh man, I totally missed that read on the play.' And so, just his composure and just his ability to look like he does every day in practice."
The first playcall was a pass, which Carr hit JJ Buchanan for an 11-yard gain. The drive stalled out, though Carr had a two-yard pass to Andrew Marsh. He missed his third attempt -- a flea-flicker -- but later had a 22-yard pass to Hogan Hansen, a miss intended for Marsh, a two-yard pass to Savion Hiter, and a nine-yard completion to Buchanan.
Though he only had 47 yards passing, Beck wanted to get Carr into rhythm early, hence the early calls for him to go to the air.
"It was something we had a lot of confidence in, but it was like, all right, we're running him out here, let's give him something really comfortable, you feel really good about, but to kind of get him going," Beck said. "Because you gotta cross that bridge at some point, and so it was kind of like, let's rip the bandaid off and hit on this first play and see if we can kind of get some momentum rolling, get some confidence going. And we got the look we wanted, and he did a nice job, just did the normal routine thing and made a nice play."
Michigan and Tommy Carr (assuming he starts) will have a bigger test this week, with defending national champion Indiana coming to town. The game will be broadcast live on Fox with a 12:10 p.m. EDT kickoff.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jason Beck reveals difficult decision to bench Bryce Underwood
